1. In each of the five dynastys the founder was a military usurper who seized control by force of arms.
  2. Then the founding emperor was either murdered by a son or succeeded by a son who was then deposed by the military usurper, sooner or later.
  3. In this time period of uproar, Chinese thinkers thought to see the disdain of Heaven and even the end of the world.
  4. The Ten Principalities, none of these Principalities was large enough to do much more than protect them selves against foreign incursions.
  5. The Chinese cultural tradition continued in the south, although without much vigor or impulse for change.